Journey
by AlternativeRocker
Summary: Mac supports Jo when she finds out her son is going to be a father. Eventual Mac/Jo.
1. Chapter 1

****Authors Note: ****Ollie wanted me to try to write a Jo/Mac chapter fic so here I am. Me and updating chapter fics is a novelty that I wish I could do well but most of the time I either update real quick or go weeks without any. Just warning you. :)

****Disclaimer: ****I own nothing to do with the characters or show, just the excitement I have over season 8's filming having started now!

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><p>Mac could see Jo was angry even at the distance away he was and immediately wanted to know what had happened to cause the usually calm female to act like this. Not anything to do with how he deep down wanted to hurt whoever had made his friend annoyed. Not at all.<p>

He walked into her office after gently knocking on the glass then sat opposite her as she flashed him a soft smile and rested her chin on the palm of her hand.

"Hey."

"Hi, how are you?"

"Fine."

He shook his head, irked at how she never wanted to tell him the truth at times like this, "Come on Jo, you really aren't fine and I want to know what's gone on."

"It's not a big deal, just family stuff. You wouldn't be interested."

He gave her a tight nod before replying, "Try me."

Jo stared at him for a moment, attempting to figure out why he would be so concerned about her problems. She always wanted to tell him what went on in her life – including all the mundane events that even Ellie wouldn't listen to – but she was afraid to allow him to see that she wanted to spend so much time with him in case he didn't think they were that close.

"Okay, I got home last night to find Tyler and his girlfriend waiting up for me. She just found out she is pregnant with his child. Mac, he's just a kid himself, how can he have been so stupid?

"Sounds like a fun conversation, shame I missed it," he said with a smirk.

"Oh be quiet." How he was managing to make her giggle considering how she was currently feeling was beyond her understanding but she liked it and thanked the divine spirits for putting her on his team.

"Can I ask you how old you were when you got pregnant with Tyler."

"Almost 26."

"Only a few years older than he is now. What difference do those months make? Right now your son is a fabulous young gentleman who has the decency to tell his mother as soon as he finds out big news."

Jo let out a sigh, "Russ and I were married and settled into careers when we started a family. My baby is still in college with no true idea what he wants to do in the future."

He watched as she lowered her eyelids and took some deep breaths in, willing the tears not to fall down her face because it pained him to see her upset.

"Are they wanting to stay together and are they happy about the baby?"

Jo's eyes opened again and looked into his seriously, "Yeah, they're absolutely ecstatic and totally in love with each other. They are high-school sweethearts and to my knowledge have never once broken up. Tyler hasn't spoke to me since I was less than enthusiastic when they told me. I think they would make excellent parents but not yet."

"You worry people will think you are old when you tell them you're a grandmother." He didn't do humour all that well but knew it was one of the few ways to get Jo to open up.

"Yep, that's the whole problem in a nutshell. I don't want my son to get his girlfriend knocked up because guys will think I am too elderly yo date. Why are you being like this Mac? Just leave me to wallow for the rest of my life and you can get back to the proper work you're supposed to be doing."

Mac stood up and she honestly thought he was going to walk back out of the room but he didn't. He walked around to the other side of the desk, where she was and cleared a space in the middle of her mounds of files and post-it noted to sit down.

"Jo Danville, you are not getting rid of me that easily. Knowing your family like I do, I know you are going to be the one who is in need of the most support... I bet your ex-husband isn't taking the news well either though."

"I have no clue how he is. Tyler made sure I wouldn't tell Russ before he got the chance and I am thankful for that. True however, I would pay money to watch that scene. Thank you Mac."

"For what?"

"Just being here."

He raised his arms from down by his side and placed his hand on her shoulder, silently telling her he was not going to let her go through this journey by herself.

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><p><strong>To Be Continued.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

****Authors Note: ****I have part of the next chapter written so hopefully another update soon. :) Thanks for the encouragement so far.

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><p>Mac had just entered his house after an evening run when he the sound of the telephone in his living room started to ring. He quickly picked it up and was slightly surprised to hear Jo's voice on the other end.<p>

"Hey, I didn't mean to bother you. I wasn't sure who else I could talk to that is not an unopened bottle of chardonnay."

"What's wrong?"

"Tyler and Sam went for their first scan today and now it seems even more real since seeing the picture."

He was unsure of how to respond to her news but knew she needed company in some form or another, "Do you want me to come over to your place or you can come here if you prefer? Either way you can vent out everything to me with a sensible volume of alcohol."

The line went silent as she decided which option to pick. She almost sounded nervous as she invited him to her house as long as she had not interrupted anything with her call.

He answered sarcastically, "I suppose I could find time in my busy social life to help a damsel in distress. I'll bring pizza."

"Thank you Mac. No pepperoni and-" he cut her off, knowing the rest of her order like the back of his hand, "Extra cheese and a little chicken and vegetable." He could hear her giggle as they ended the conversation.

The past couple of weeks had involved not talking about her family issues and simply carrying on as though nothing had happened, but he had been waiting for something like this to push her back to a state in which she depended on the people closest to her.

Before returning to the streets he changed into different clothes that weren't used for exercise then hastily went on his walk.

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><p>Once they were settled on her sofa wit the food and drink he looked at her expectantly until she finally began to talk.<p>

"I don't even know why I'm being like this! It's not me having the kid, I should be over the moon that everyone is happy but the prospect of him getting so much older in such a limited amount of time worries me." She tipped her head back on to the seat and let out a deep breath.

Mac had to get her out of this line of speech so gazed at the side of her gace which looked so serene and beautiful in the lighting and asked, "Can I see the ultrasound?"

Her stunning smile appeared as she retrieved the picture from the table near her. When she sat down again she placed herself much closer to his body using the excuse of the scan being quite small but deep down she knew it was mainly because she wanted to be able to feel his familiar strength against her own that was weakening by the day.

Her fingers traced over the outline of her future grandchild as she pointed out all the features and he gave up looking at the tiny blob in favour of staring at Jo whose expressions were on a completely alternate level of entertainment than what he was supposed to be interested in.

He never thought he could once again care about someone as much as he did for Claire but he did, and Jo hadn't even realized yet. Nothing about her seemed to make him question his attraction, he teased her about certain parts of her character but they only served to make her more intriguing.

After a few minutes of uninterrupted talking Jo turned to see what his reaction was. When she saw he was looking solely at her face she stopped speaking which did catch Mac's attention and he quickly averted his eyes.

She smirked as the silence continued, wishing he would look at her like that all the time. Their flirting was gradually getting more obvious and although it created this awkward tension between them they never succeeded in stopping the actions.

As they sat for longer Jo suddenly realized how tired she was when she had to stifle a yawn. Mac let out a small laugh and received a hit to his shoulder in response. "So you finally exhausted yourself talking about your future generations. They'll just keep you awake after they're born anyway I suppose."

"No Mac, it's you. You bore me to the point where I could fall asleep where I sit." He raised an eyebrow at her while she looked back with a cheeky grin playing on her lips. Without saying any other words Ho laid her head on Mac's shoulder, her hair gently tickling his neck, neither of them caring that the current position was relatively uncomfortable.

She would have fell asleep right then if he hadn't twisted his head and whispered into her hair, "Maybe I should go home now."

Sitting up properly she asked, "Do you want to stay over? I have the spare room and you don't have work in the morning so you won't have to get smarter clothes. Ellie is out until sometime tomorrow." He knew that amount of babbling could only mean she didn't want to be home alone and he had long since accepted he was never able to refuse her incoherent voice pattern coupled with pouting.

They stood up a little later and slowly walked to her hallway where they murmured small goodnights to each other before separating to the different rooms.

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><p><strong>To Be Continued.<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

****Authors Note: ****Thanks for the encouragement so far. This chapter is just a filler to get me back into the swing of things. I think this fic will only have about two more chapters then it'll be finished. Maybe. :)

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><p>Entering her kitchen the next morning Jo rubbed her face in an attempt to make herself feel more awake so she knew she wasn't imagining that Mac was wandering around her house tidying up all the glasses, bottles and boxes that had been left overnight.<p>

It looked so natural to see him like this that she almost didn't question him. He was obviously still in the jeans and shirt from the night before but the top half was uncrushed which made her go down the forbidden path of pondering what he had slept in. Her thoughts began to stray from being clean just at the moment he turned around and grinned at her.

"Sorry if I woke you. I couldn't get back to sleep and don't have any of my running kit with me so decided to make myself useful."

"Honestly you shouldn't be so sweet to me. You didn't wake me, I hardly ever get a lie-in because my body has never settled into a normal night routine."

Mac noticed then how she was dressed: an oversized faded red t-shirt and gray pajama shorts, her dark hair tied in a loose ponytail and not a speck of make-up on her soft, beautiful face. Stupidly the male side of his brain kept dragging his eyes back to her bare legs which were incredible if he was being truthful.

"Do you fancy having something to eat, Mac," she asked, breaking him away from the silent staring match with her skin.

"Sounds hopeful, what do you have?"

"All the usual stuff I could fry, fruit or we can make pancakes." Her eyes lit up as she said the last option and he couldn't resist mentioning it, "What is it with the Danvilles and unhealthy treats?... Fine, you can have your wish but only if you help make them since I have almost forgotten how."

"Deal," she agreed, practically bouncing around to grab bowls and ingredients from across the room. when she reached to the cupboard higher up there was no way he could stop himself from looking at her again. He knew she didn't think she was as attractive as was the truth but he never knew how to tell her what he thought.

He took charge of cooking the pancakes when she got back to being next to him, giving her the opportunity to gaze at him and think of how much they had become since first meeting. They knew the other was deep in thought so made their chat simple yet still completely engaging, laughing and teasing throughout.

As she lifted one to her mouth some of the syrup slid off the pancake and on to her leg. She felt the cool liquid and hastily used her thumb to scoop it off, she then put her thumb to her lips to lick the sauce away. Mac was transfixed during this scene and she knew it. Jo hadn't intended to do this for his benefit - honestly, she just did not want to get everything sticky if it had went on her worktops.

They jumped up when their silence was broken by a knock on the front door. As she started to move from her makeshift chair the door was opened and they heard Tyler's voice echoing down the hall,

"Mom, are you here somewhere?"

"Yeah, in the kitchen."

Tyler stopped in his tracks when he saw the older male in the room. "Oh, hey Mac. What are you doing here?"

"Your mom kept us talking last night and suggested I slept in the spare room." After some awkward silences Mac excused himself from the apartment while Jo tried to pretend she wasn't going to miss him even just for some of this one day.

"Seducing him with pancakes, nice work mom. Next time though you could do it when I'm not going to walk in on it."

"I was not seducing him! He just stayed over - in the spare bedroom! - and we were making breakfast. Nothing more." She quickly turned away and busied herself clearing up some of the rubbish so as not to allow her son to see the blush that she could feel erupting on her face.

"So how is Sam doing today?"

"She's good, she went to her friend's house for a girl chat so I thought I would come over here to distract my lonely mother, but I see I wasn't the only one with that idea." Jo responded by throwing a cushion at his head; he knew how to wind her up so easily and it had become all too simple since Mac had entered their lives.

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><p><strong>To Be Continued.<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Authors Note: **Only an epilogue sort of thing to go. Could have split this into two chapters but decided against it. I love you all.

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><p>For the rest of the time Tyler stayed talking for Jo's mind would not stop darting back to the previous night and how sweet Mac had been. She didn't know what good she had done in her life to deserve him but she mentally patted herself on the back for whatever it had been because she never wanted him to go now.<p>

Tyler could see his mom was away to her happy place in her mind but didn't care as much as he could see how it made her smile and since he had his own bundle of joy on the way he would let her have however many moments like this as she wanted. He also knew what - or more precisely_ who_ - she was thinking about and although he loved teasing her about it he wished she and Mac would get over their awkward, blushing conversations and be with the person who seemed to make them happiest.

He couldn't even remember her acting nearly this in love when his parents had been married and even though he had only met the other man a year ago Mac looked as though he doted on her.

Jo continued to walk around the room, rearranging everything she had already put away into cupboards and the sink while her son's voice occasionally caught her attention but for the majority of time she was going over the past twelve months and questioning how different it had all been with Mac there with her. Eventually the young male got bored of talking to what was essentially a brick wall so started to text Sam and a few other friends. He found out she was having tons of fun and he asked if she wanted to stay over to which she proclaimed her love for him many times - she had been dropping hints about a sleepover with the girls for months and he aimed to please, even if he did miss her when it was only 11am.

The next time he looked up from the screen he saw Jo sitting on the sofa, looking uninterested and just twirling her hair. He realized he had to get her out of the apartment to take her mind of everything for a little while so went up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders, "Do you want to go for a walk or go shopping or something?"

She smiled at the prospect of spending hours with her eldest but then remembered Ellie would be getting in soon.

"She can come too, it can be a nice little family time."

"Remind me how a boy as wonderful as you is mine?" She commented, kissing him lightly on the forehead as she went to get changed into proper clothing. She heard Ellie noisily banging the front door shut when she got in.

"You okay sweetie?" she shouted from her room.

"Yeah, it'll be fine, just a small disagreement, that's all."

"Tyler is offering to take us for a walk and shopping if you wanna get some fresh New York air?"

"Ooo, wow, almost being a dad is making my nerdy brother so kind!"

They all gathered in the kitchen as they put shoes and jackets on when Tyler said, "I actually said a walk _or_ shopping, not both. One was usually enough when I was younger!" Jo smirked and dragged her children out the door, hoping the three of them could clear a few minutes of thinking about some things that weren't their problems. She had to escape the constant pushing her brain did to remind her of how Mac was dressed that morning.

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><p>They were buying burgers when Tyler started to talk, "hey El, guess what I walked in on this morning!"<p>

Jo rolled her eyes, "Fifteen minutes? I'm surprised you managed this long without spreading these salacious lies."

"Ooo, I'm interested now. One of you spill!"

Jo was never going to tell her teenage daughter and Tyler knew it, he also was not going to miss the opportunity to tell Ellie this, "Mom has herself a man!"

"I have no such-"

"Mac?" Jo just stood there in shock when Ellie said his name.

"Wow I must have missed a lot while I haven't been staying over here if this has been a long-running series of sleepovers between the two of them!"

"Wait, he stayed over?"

They began to walk through the park while Jo defended her relationship again. Her kids started laughing almost immediately and she stopped, staring at them with her eyes narrowing, "What?"

Tyler was the one to explain, "It's just that your biggest worry is what we think when your friend stays n the spare room even though we honestly only care about it for teasing purposes. And we get that Mac and you have all these communication obstacles but that has never stopped you getting what you wanted before."

Ellie started to talk over him at that point, "Mom, he looks at you like you are the only person who is in a room with him even when there are more than five others around you. Have you never noticed how he never argues with you when you ask him things like to go home once n a while? According to Lindsay that is unheard of in Mac Taylor."

"Gosh you two, just please be quiet! I am not in love with Mac." She ran a hand through her dark hair as they answered,

"We didn't mention love, we were merely pointing out facts."

The small family stared at each other for a number of minutes until the slowly started walking again. For the remainder of their time outside the atmosphere was tense and they got back to the house having bought next to nothing.

Jo hid in her bedroom while a meal was cooked by the younger members of the Danville family. Not a single other thought crossed her mind except from the man who had been the topic of the day. He meant everything to her (who was not related by blood) but she still didn't really believe he felt the same about her, no matter what moments replayed in her head from all their time together.

She missed him though. He had only been gone seven hours and she wanted to see him again, she wanted to scream at her stupidity. Usually she could cope without him for an entire weekend and yet him staying over for one night had changed that.

When she was called to eat the lovingly prepared food she put on a fake smile and pretended to be over what had been brought up earlier. The children did not seem to care about how she had acted and joked with her about any subject that had no connection to her work or colleague. Shortly after they finished Ellie excused herself from the table to go text or Skype her friends from the comfort of her own room. Tyler quickly put on the TV while Jo sat back in the seat and thought once more of how much she enjoyed conversations with Mac and how he was always tere when she had a problem - whether it was something trivial or the fact that her son was going to be a father.

This was by no means the first night where these thoughts dominated her mind, almost every night ended this way but on this particular evening it was so much ore intense. She did not even notice that Tyler was now stood in front of her, looking sympathetically down at her,

"I know where you want to be, dear mother, I can stay the night to make sure Ellie gets a couple of hours sleep. Please go and tell him! I'll try to not tease you from now on if that will make you consider it?"

She opened her eyes and looked into her son's face in silence for a little while. Eventually she couldn't take any more and let a giant smile pour out over her lips.

"Does he honestly like me?" Tyler nodded strongly while holding out both of his hands to help her stand up.

"And you guys aren't exaggerating any of this because I'm falling for him and can't bear for my hopes to get slaughtered if he rejects me."

He brought her into a hug and said, "There is no way in hell he is going to turn you down," which was muffles slightly by her hair but she heard what she needed to.

"I love you Tyler. Thank you, thank you, thank you," she exclaimed, kissing his forehead.

When she was slipping her boots on she realised how she looked; she was wearing old jeans that had numerous rips in them, a t-shirt that was worn and her hair was back in its messy ponytail, her only saving grace was that some of her make-up had lasted the day. But she didn't care. She glanced to her son before going out and smiled.

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><p>Mac was tidying up his folders and papers when he heard the knock at his door. When he saw Jo dressed so adorably on the other side he was reasonably confused, mainly because she never went out in public looking so grunge-like.<p>

"I thought I could maybe stay here tonight, if that's okay? I want to be able to have just one morning where I can have a simple breakfast, or whatever, without one of my darling children walking in and interrupting it. I'll go if I've just done exactly that!"

"Jo, you do not have to go anywhere. In fact you can come here any time, any day you want." He moved to the side to allow her entry. She placed the palm of her hand on his chest and leaned up to kiss his cheek softly. Her lips stayed there as his fingers lightly touched her face. He brushed his mouth against her cheek and gradually got nearer to her lips.

Jo's eyelids had long since fluttered shut and the feel of his breath and him on her skin was intoxicating. The kiss was now properly between their mouths and she was slowly being pressed back against the closed door as their hands became more involved in the contact. Neither could believe this was actually happening but they didn't want to tempt fate by asking aloud. When they required oxygen to continue they began to whisper what the other person meant to them.

After a long time of just doing these acts Jo attempted to take it further but he stopped her hands and explained, "I don't want us to take this too quickly, I want to enjoy every stage of being with you. Is that okay?"

She bit her lip to stop a squeal escaping over how much of a gentleman he was so kissed him, "That is perfectly okay with me."

For the rest of the night they alternated between making out like teenagers, and talking about everything they came up with. They stayed awake until Jo fell asleep with her head resting on his torso as they lay on the couch. The seat was surprisingly more comfortable than Mac remembered now that Jo was with him and when he finally stopped staring at her beautiful self he got some sleep as well. Their bodies managed to intertwine themselves so that they could sleep soundly while holding on to as much of the person they loved as was physically possible.

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><p><strong>To Be Continued.<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**Authors Note:** So, here we are. The end. I still love this couple more than so many others and just want them to be the fluffy ship of fanfics! :D I wrote this at 1am so excuse the extreme sappiness of it but I regret nothing about it since it's JAC! Thanks for all the favourites, alerts, reviews and just generally reading this, you make it all worth it!

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><p>The baby's high-pitched cries cut through the silence of the bedroom and Jo groaned as she was woken up for the third time in the same evening, "Remind me why we agreed to look after him," she mumbled into Mac's chest while she began to get to her feet.<p>

"He's your grandson and his parents needed a night to themselves." Jo glared at him in the darkness; no matter what time it was he always sounded so alert which infuriated her.

"I'm so surprised they had to get away from this little guy. There isn't even any point in me being the one going to him, he never wakes up after you tell him one of your dull stories." Mac knew she didn't mean what she was saying, and that she was just grumpy about getting so much less sleep than usual. Matthew Danville was only four months old and already giving Jo a worthy opponent in the lets-make-chat stakes.

Looking at the clock he saw it was 6am - a perfectly reasonable hour to start the day in his eyes even if he still had to convince Jo to get up earlier on her days off. He pulled on a pair of jeans and walked across the floor until he was stood behind the two people sharing the space. As soon as she felt his warmth behind her Jo leaned back with the baby in her arms and apologised to Mac for being so harsh. His response was to softly kiss her head, neck and shoulder and wrap his arms around her waist.

"See Matthew, this is actually the most wonderful human being in the world because he still acts as though he loves us when we force him to endure both of us at silly times of the day like this. And he can survive Danville family meals which is a highly underestimated art." The small face looking back at her simply stared and gurgled but Mac tightened the grip on his partner, "I always love the both of you, I promise, but I will accept the praise over those dinners because they are sheer madness."

They stayed in that position for another few moments before Jo yawned loudly and Mac decided to let her have more sleep. "i will take him for a nice long stroll around the park and you can go back to sleep, sound like a plan?" She placed Matthew back in the cot and turned to face Mac, kissing him and seductively saying "Yes sir." He had to restrain himself from going back to bed with her after hearing her tease with that line, so he took the tiny person over to the pram in the hall and left the apartment but not before kissing Jo goodbye quite fiercely.

He honestly did not know how to describe the level by which he was in love with her, they were each other's reason to come home every night. They had agreed they were utterly content in their current relationship yet Mac knew she would probably feel more secure if he finally built up the courage to ask her to be his wife. The only trouble with that was that he still couldn't believe she would feel that strongly about him. He also was simply terrified of losing another woman he loved so deeply in any way and he worried she would not accept and then run away.

She hadn't found the ring he had bought the previous month yet which at least gave him some sort of upper hand in the whole business. Matthew reminded him of Jo so much and as they walked for ages around the trees and under the early morning sunlight Mac realized he wanted people to see he was ready to make a proper life for himself an her and that he would have to ask her very soon.

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><p>When they returned it was coming up for 9am and Jo was awake, drinking a mug of coffee on the sofa.<p>

"I think we both had fun outside and he seems to have settled enough for me to leave him for two moments so that I can say a better good morning to you," he stated as he placed his palms on her cheeks and brought their lips together.

"Good morning. Again, I am sorry about my morning attitude, I mean nothing by it. I love you so much Mac, trust me when I say that. You can't ever get rid of me." She was wearing one of his shirts and her hair was in his favorite messy style and he could not think of a chance better than this. Jo however just continued to talk and quickly reached a point where she paused mid-sentence, almost scared of what she was going to say next,

"Mac... I totally hey how you feel about moving forwards but I love you more than anyone else and if you give us a shot I think we could be amazing, or more so than now. I understand if you want to hold off for another while but this morning - you taking a member of my family, a four month old at that, just to let me sleep - made me see that I am the luckiest woman to simply know you and I want to ask you-" Mac stopped her then by kissing her.

"Jo, could you excuse me for a second?" She truly thought she had blown the whole thing up into smoke when she watched him go to their room but she was pleasantly shocked when he did reappear within the shortest amount of time. She raised an eyebrow inquisitively at him when she noticed he had something hidden behind his back and he smirked back at her. He took small steps closer to where she was seated,

"Jo, you turned my life around and I would never trade a single memory of it for the world. I think we will overcome anything put in front of us, including our own insecurities and pains. We make each other stronger by the looks of things. If you want to say no to what I'm about to ask I will still adore you for the rest of my life but let's see anyway..."

Mac got down on one knee and took the ring box from behind his back, her squeal was loud enough to make him wince but he carried on regardless, "I love you and would love for you to say that you will be my wife, how about it?"

"Yes, yes, yes, yes," she responded with that one word repeatedly while kissing him constantly and joined him on her knees on the floor. Their celebrations were soon interrupted by the crying child once again, "Damn it, I am going to strangle Tyler for this!"

"Jo, I hate to say it love but he probably woke up because of that adorable scream you just let out."

"Just because we are now engaged does not mean you can blame me for this kinda thing!"

He smiled as he leaned down to kiss her forehead before going to pick up the baby. Jo stayed sitting on the floor until he returned, alternating her stares between her new fiancé and the gorgeous ring in her hand.

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><p><strong>The End.<strong>


End file.
